Scottish cyclist set to smash records with 80 days world cycle

Scottish cycling star Mark Beaumont, best known for cycling around the world in 194 days in 2008, will take ultra-endurance to another level by circumnavigating the globe in less than half that time.

Beaumont will be attempting to travel 18,000 miles around the world, starting from Paris on Sunday 2 July. Beaumont will leave Paris and cycle to Beijing via Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and Mongolia. He will then cycle between Perth and Brisbane in Australia, and between Invercargill and Auckland in New Zealand. The fourth leg of his challenge is between Anchorage in the United States and Halifax in Canada, and he will complete his journey by cycling from Lisbon to Paris.

As a warm up to the Artemis World Cycle, Mark is currently cycling around the coastline of Britain, on a 15-day training ride, for 16 hours and 240 miles per day.

As part of his mission to travel around the world in 80 days, breaking the current world record of 123 days, set by New Zealand's Andrew Nicholson, the Scottish adventurer is raising funds for Orkidstudio, which works to benefit communities worldwide through innovative architecture and construction. The journey will also be tracked through Twinkl, a global educational platform for primary schools.

"This is the culmination of the past two decades, since I was a 12-year-old boy cycling across Scotland," says Beaumont.

"I would love for this journey to give people the confidence to take on what they are capable of, for young people in particular to stop and to think 'what's my 80 days'?"

Sport in Scotland

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